1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a freight car for bulk material, which comprises an elongated frame defining a plane and supported on undercarriages, an elongated box for holding the bulk material, the box being mounted on the frame and having a bottom and an open top, an elongated conveyor means at the bottom of the box for transporting the bulk material in a conveying direction longitudinally extending along the box, the conveyor means having an input at one end of the box and an output at a box end opposite to the one end, a transfer conveyor extending in the conveying direction and arranged to receive the transported bulk material from the output of the conveyor means, the transfer conveyor having a free end projecting beyond the opposite box end, and a centering device for the free end of a transfer conveyor of a like freight car coupled to the frame at the one box end, the free transfer conveyor end of the like freight car being detachably connectable to the centering device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,538, dated Mar. 18, 1986, discloses such a freight car and how such cars may be coupled together in an advantageous manner to form a freight train. The free end of the transfer conveyor of each car projects above the open top of the box of the following car in the conveying direction to fill the box with the transported bulk material. Any number of such freight cars may be coupled together to form a train of any desired length, and such a train may be advantageously used to transport bulk material coming from a ballast cleaning machine, for example, from a rear car adjacent the machine to a front car where it is stored. The free transfer conveyor end is attached to a centering device on the adjacent car so that it is automatically laterally pivoted about a vertical axis in track curves. However, in highly superelevated track curves, this pivoting does not effectively center the free transfer conveyor end over the bottom conveyor means in the box into which it empties the bulk material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,994, dated Oct. 22, 1974, German patent application No. 2,146,590, published Mar. 23, 1972, and German Democratic Republic patent No. 212,544, of Aug. 15, 1984, deal with freight cars equipped with overhead conveyors for transporting bulk material from car to car, the conveyors being displaceable relative to each other in a longitudinal direction to enable the conveyors to be adjusted with respect to each other.